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Speed and consistency stand out

In many ways, football is a simple game: the team that scores
the most goals, wins. Yet in every week, in every league and in
every single match, there are intriguing statistical sub-plots that
help make the beautiful game the fascinating spectacle that it is.

That's why, every week, we at
FIFA.com take a look at the numbers behind the
results, highlighting football's biggest winners and losers
from the week just past. In this, the fifth of our regular
round-ups, we bring you news of impressive goalscoring feats from
the likes of Luca Toni, Hakan Yakin and Joel Griffiths, and pay
tribute to the remarkable consistency shown by F91 Dudelange and
the imperious Inter Milan.

123 days after his 36th birthday, Nico Kovac had
reason to celebrate once again as the veteran Croatian midfielder
became the week's oldest scorer with a 59th-minute penalty in
Red Bull Salzburg's 4-0 win over SV Mattersburg. The resounding
victory kept Giovanni Trapattoni's league leaders on track for
a successful championship defence, although Rapid Vienna are just a
point behind in an Austrian title race so tight that any one of
five teams could top the table by the end of this weekend. As for
the week's youngest goalscorer, that honour fell to Abel
Hernandez, who at 17 years and 193 days scored Central
Espanol's consolation in a 2-1 defeat by Penarol, also from the
penalty spot. Despite the defeat, Hernandez's side remain a
point in front of their conquerors in the Uruguayan Apertura,
although neither side look likely to rise from their current
mid-table positions to threaten leaders Defensor.

50 goals in 18 top flight matches made the Mexican
Clausura the highest scoring of all the 175 leagues analysed. Some
of the week's most significant and highest-scoring winners
included Pachuca, 6-1 victors over Tigres, and the Pumas side who
cruised to a 4-1 home win over Jaguares. With six rounds of matches
played, the league's three six-team groups are led by Toluca,
Santos Laguna and Guadalajara respectively, although every of the
18 teams involved in these well-matched sections have at least one
victory to their name. Guadalajara, meanwhile, earn top marks as
the only Mexican top flight side yet to taste defeat.

24 minutes was all the time Luca Toni needed to hit
the week's fastest hat-trick, carrying out his one-man
demolition of Hannover between the 58th and 82nd minutes of a 3-0
win for the Bavarian giants. The Italian's match-winning treble
took him clear of his rivals at the top of the Bundesliga scoring
charts and kept Bayern three points ahead of Werder Bremen in the
race for the German title. Other hat-trick heroes over the past
week include Hibernian youngster Steven Fletcher, and the
Mexico-based duo of Luis Rey and Humberto Suazo, who were on form
for Pachuca and Monterrey respectively.

23 rounds of Serie A matches have been played and,
still, Inter Milan have yet to be beaten. Saturday's David
Suazo-inspired 2-0 win over Livorno continued the defending
champions' remarkably consistent title defence, and with Roma
losing to an Alessandro Del Piero goal in Turin, the 11-point gap
at the summit looks all but insurmountable. Another three games
without defeat and Inter will match the record 26-game streak
achieved by Pakistani Premier League champions WAPDA over the
course of their season. In Belgium, meanwhile, Standard Liege
extended their own impressive unbeaten run to 22 matches with a 2-1
win at Club Brugge that could prove to be of huge significance.
Milan Jovanovic's double secured a victory that lifted his team
level on points with their Brugges rivals at the top of the Jupiler
League, with only goal difference keeping Standard off the
summit.

16 victories from as many Fortis League matches gives
F91 Dudelange the longest winning streak of any of the 175 leagues
analysed, a run extended by the Luxembourg top flight leaders'
convincing 3-0 win over RM Hamm Benfica on Sunday. The Fortis
League only returned to action last weekend following its winter
break and yet, already, the race for the title appears to have
become a mere procession, with F91 Dudelange leading second-placed
Racing Luxembourg by 19 points.

14 is the shared goal tally which ensures that Young
Boys' Hakan Yakin and Joel Griffiths of Newcastle United Jets
currently top the scoring charts in Switzerland and Australia
respectively. Yakin, who turns 31 on Friday, seems set to add to
his 56 Swiss caps by playing a key role in the co-hosts' UEFA
EURO 2008 campaign this summer, and his goals have kept Young Boys
firmly in the race for the Super League title. Griffifths,
meanwhile, was on target again at the weekend with a vital penalty
in extra time against Queensland Roar as the Jets set up an
A-League Grand Final showdown with Premiership champions Central
Coast Mariners